Meanwhile, the samples of two travelers — one from South Africa and another from Burkina Faso — are at the Philippine Genome Center for sequencing and the specimen of the passenger from Egypt is set to be sent to the PGC, DOH said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 9) — Experts did not detect the Omicron variant in the latest genome sequencing run involving 48 samples, the Department of Health (DOH) announced Thursday.
The tested specimens belonged to 12 returning overseas Filipinos and 36 local cases from areas with high-risk average daily attack rates and clusters of infection, according to DOH.
The DOH said in a statement that of the 48 samples sequenced on Wednesday, 38 or around 79% were found to have the Delta variant, while “the rest had non-VOC (variant of concern) lineages or had no lineages detected.”
This brings the total Delta variant cases detected in the country to 7,886.
Of the additional 38 Delta cases, 31 are local cases and seven are returning Filipinos. Two of the returning Filipinos had a history of travel to Turkey, the DOH said. Others have been to Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, and Peru, DOH added.
The department said six of the 31 local Delta cases had “indicated addresses” in Cagayan Valley, while five were from the Cordillera Administrative Region, three each from Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Soccsksargen, and Metro Manila, two each from Central Luzon and Calabarzon, and one from the Davao Region.
One local patient is currently ill, while 27 local cases and the seven returning Filipinos have been tagged as recovered, DOH said. The health status of three other local cases were still being verified, it added.
